Cotton-chopper.



PATENTED APR. 21, 1908. ,T. J. SMITH.

' COTTON CHOPPER.

APPLIOATION FILED JULY 12. 1907.

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THE NORRIS PETERS co., wAsr-:ma1o-, n. c.

PATENTED APR. 21,1908.

T.J. SMITH. COTTON CHOPPER. APPLICATION FILED JULY 12. 1907.

5 SHEETSSHEET 2.

7H5 upRRls PETERS ca, WASHINGTON,- n. c.

PATENTED APR. 21', 1908. T. .T.,SMITH. I COTTON CHOPPER APPLIOATIONFILED JULY 12. 1907.

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PATENTED APR} 21, 1908.

T.: J. SMITH.

COTTON CHOPPER.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 12. 1907.

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PATENTBD APR. 21, 1908.

I. J. SMITH COTTON CHOPPER.

APPLICATION mum mum. 190?.

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UN 1TB Prion. I

-TAYLOR 1. SMITH, OF ENSLEY, ALABAMA.

COTTON-CHOPPER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented April 21, 1908.

Application filed July 12, 1907. Serial No. 383,454.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, TAYLOR J. SMITH, a citizen of the United States,residing at Ensley, in the county of Jefferson and State of Alabama,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in a CottonOhopper, ofwhich the following is a specification.

This invention relates to agricultural implements and relates moreparticularly to a chopping machine intended primarily for use in cottonfields although it is not necessarily limited to this use.

The invention has for one of its objects to improve and simplify theconstruction and operation of machines of this character so as to becomparatively inexpensive and easy to manufacture thoroughly reliableand efficient in use and convenient to manipulate.

A further object of the invention is the provision of a revolvingchopping element provided with blades arranged so that the superfluouscotton plants can be cut out without disturbing the plants allowed toremain in the row, the chopping element having a motion somewhat likethat of an auger whereby the plants can be removed by a lateraldisplacement without shock and dis turbance as is common with thosechoppers that cut with quick strokes, and in this connection it might beremarked that in cotton cultivation it is highly important that the soilaround the plants permitted to remain is not in the least disturbed bythe operation of the chopper since the plants are extremely delicate andwill wither and die if disturbed.

A further object of the invention is the provision of a wheeled cottonchopping machine provided with means whereby the chopping element can bereadily thrown into or out of operation from the drivers seat andwhereby the position of the element can be conveniently changed by handor foot to vary the depth of penetration of the blades and to bring theelement into proper relation to the row.

Another object is to provide a longitudinal driving shaft for theelement including a uni versal joint whereby the element can be moved toany desired position while rotating, the power being derived from one ofthe ground wheels of the machine. And another object is the provision ofa cutting element comprising a body in the form of a propeller on whichare arranged blades or knives adapted to be adjusted to vary the numberof plants allowed to remain in the row.

With these objects in view and others as I will appear as thedescription proceeds, the invention comprises the various novel featuresof construction and arrangement of parts which will be more fullydescribed hereinafter and set forth with particularity in the claimsappended hereto.

In the accompanying drawing which illustrates one of the embodiments ofthe invention, Figure 1 is a plan view of the machine with portionsbroken'away to reveal the details of construction. Fig. 2 is a side viewof the machine with the wheels removed. Fig. 3 is a front view of themachine. Fig. 4 is a rear view of the machine. Figs. 5 and 6 areenlarged detail views of the chopping element showing the bladesextended. Fig. '7 is an enlarged plan view of the front portion of themachine showing the clutching mechanism. Figs. 8 and 9 are respectivelya front and a side view of the parts shown in Fig. 7 with portions beingbroken away. Fig. 10 is a plan view of the connection between the tongueand the frame of the machine. Fig. 11 is a side view thereof. Fig. 12 isa section on line 12 12 Fig. 5. Fig. 13, is an enlarged view of thechopping element showing the blades flush with the arm.

Referring to the drawing, A designates the rectangular main frame of themachine, and B the triangular secondary frame thereof, the frames beingmade largely of beams of channel iron or any other suitable material.The sidebeams 1 of the frame A are connected near their rear ends by anarched cross member 2 and directly under the same is an inverted archedaxle 3 Fig. 3, which is securely fastened to the beams by clips 4 or anyother suitable means, the ends of the axle being prolonged beyond themain frame to form spindles 5 on which the wheels 6 rotate. 'The frontends of the side beams 1 are connected by a horizontal transverselyextending plate 7 and to the rear thereof is a cross piece 8. The frameB is composed of forwardly converging channel beams 9 that project attheir rear ends beyond the main frame A'and have secured thereto a seat10 whereby the weight of the operator tends to counter-balance the frontend of the machine. The beams 9 are secured to the arched cross member 2and to an inverted U shaped bracket 11 rising from the front plate 7 thefront ends of the beams being spaced apart and slightly bent to form aninwardly converging mouth or socket 12 as shown in Fig. for thereception of the rear end of the tongue 13 of the machine. To the frontends of the beams 9 are connected top and bottom cross pieces 14 asclearly shown in Fig. 11 that are apertured for receiving a bolt 15 thatpasses through the tongue to hold the latter in place.

Extending centrally of the machine is a driving shaft C composed of twosections 16 and 17 connected by a universal joint 18fthe section 16being mounted in bearings 19 on the front plate 7 and cross member 8 asclearly shown in Figs. 1, 7 and 8. The section 17 carries adjacent itsrear end and at a point in front of the operators seat a choppingelement or cutter D. On the shaft is a collar 20 in which the shaftrotates and con ne'cted to the collar are helical extension springs 21.that are connected to the side beams 1, of the main frame so as tocentralize the rear end of the swinging section 17 of the driving shaftC.

The operator is capable of throwing the chopping element into anydesired position during the operation of the machine and for thispurpose an operating lever 22 is arranged in front of the seat so thatthe free end thereof can be conveniently grasped, the lever beingmounted to turn on horizontally and vertically disposed axes so as toraise and lower the choppercarryingshaft or move it horizontally to oneside or the other or in any direction intermediate the vertical andhorizontal. In other words the lever is mounted for universal movement,and according to one employment of this feature a hinge 23 is secured tothe bottom side of the lever and to the top of the arched cross member2, the lower leaf 24 being connected by a vertical pivot bolt 25 thatextends into the cross member 2 so that the lever can turn on the latteras a vertical axis and on the hinge 23 as a horizontal axis. The'frontend of the lever is connected by a flexible element such as a chain 26with the swinging section of the shaft 17 of the shaft C by means of acollar 27 so that the said section and chopper can be raised bydepressing the handle end of the lever and lowered by raising the saidend of the lever. Adjacent the handle end of the lever is attached aflexible element 28 that extends from opposite sides of the leverdownwardly and pass aropnd pulleys 29 on the side beams 1 of the frame Aand connect with a collar 30 at the rear end of the shaft section 17 asclearly shown in Figs. 1,2 and 4 so that by moving the operating leverlaterally in one direction one cord will pull the shaft section 17 inthe opposite direction while the other cord is loose and vice versa whenthe lever is 'moved in the opposite direction. As a further means forshifting the shaft section 17 the foot board or rest 31 supported by a Vshaped frame 32 Figs. 2 and 4 is employed, whereby the operator canassist in the movement of the shaft and furthermore the shaft can beheld depressed or steadied by the operator bearing on the rest with hisfeet.

The driving shaft C is preferably operated by power derived from one ofthe ground wheels 6 and for this purpose one of the wheels is providedwith a sprocket wheel$33 from which passes a sprocket chain 34 toimp'art'movement to a small sprocket wheel 35.

The small sprocket wheel 35 is secured to a transversely extending shaft36 mounted for rotation in bearings 37 on the front plate 7 as clearlyshown in Figs. 1, 3, 7, and 9. Intermediate the inner end of the shaft36 and front section 16 of the shaft C is a bevel gearing 38 one gear ofwhich is feathered on the shaft 36 so that it can be thrown into and outof engagement with the other member of the gearing thereby permittingthe chopper member of the shaft to remain idle when occasion requires.The gear on the shaft 36 has a peripheral groove 39 in its hub andengaging in the same on the pins 40 Figs. 7 to 9' inclusive on fork 41which latter is attached to a longitudinally extending connecting rod 42slidable in the bearings 43 on the main frame. The rod 42 is connectedby a lever 44 fulcrumed on the member 2 at 45 Figs. 1 and 2, theconnection between the lever 44 and the connecting rod 42 consisting ofa connecting rod 46 and bell crank lever 47 fulcrumed on the front plate7 and the link 48 between the bell crank lever and the rod 42. Bythrowing the operating lever forwardly the members of the gearing 38disengage and the reverse movement will connect the said members.

The chopping element D as shown more clearly in Figs. 5 and 6 comprisesa body cast or otherwise suitably formed having a hub 49 through whichthe shaft section 17 extends and from which hub projects arms 50 thatare arranged after the fashion of a screw or propeller of a vessel. Thehub has a keygroove 51 for receiving a key 52 whereby the the shaft C.On each arm 50 is a pair of over-lapping arcuate blades 53 and 54 thatare secured to the blade of the cast portion of the chop er by bolts 55,the blades having elongater slides 56 for receiving the bolts wherebythe blades are capable of relative adjustment. When the ends of theblades are coincident the maximum number of plants are permitted toremain in the row by the chopper, and by lengthening the blades thenumber of plants permitted to remain can be diminished, for instance,when the blades on each member coincide the chopper will leave 3 inchesof cotton unchopped or remaining in the row and if this is found to betoo much the blades are extended so that less cotton will be left. Sincethe arms 50 are disposed with their outer edges obliquely to the planeof rotation of the chopping element the blades enter the soil with ascrew like effeet the rear end of the blade enters first and the pointof penetration passes along the blade from the rear end thereof untilthe blade passes entirely out of the soil and as the entering end of thenext blade is removed from the leaving end of the preceding blade aportion of the row is left undisturbed so that the lants are not choppedout. In other words, the blades do not strike the ground with a blow butcut the same smoothly and displace the chopped cotton -to one sidethereby not disturbing the roots of the cotton allowed to remain. Thedistance between the hills of cotton is governed by the speed at whichthe chopping element is rotated and this speed will have a certainrelation to the rate of the speed at which the machine is driven overthe ground and in practice it will be preferable to so proportion theparts as to leave hills 10 inches apart. In other words if the choppingelement revolves one-quarter of a revolution for every ten inches oftravel of the machine it will leave hills ten inches apart, and thedistance between the hills of the machine can be governed by theproportion of the parts of the power giving and transferring elements,since there are four blade carrying arms in the chopping element.

Since the body structure of the machine is composed of an upper and alower frame A and B a draft device of special form has been devised forattaching draft animals to the machine. This draft device comprises ahori zontally extending equalizing member 57 Figs. 1, 2 and 3 thatswings on the pin 58 passing through the tongue 12 or other suitablepart and to the ends of this bar are flexibly connected vertical parts59, and the lower ends of these vertical members or bars are flexiblyconnected with the main frame at the front thereof. To the middle of theparts 59 are connected by clevises 60, or the like, whiffletrees 61 towhich the horses are harnessed. By this device the strain on the framesA and B is equalized so that the wear and tear are reduced to a minimum.

From the foregoing description taken in connection with the accompanyingdrawing the advantages of the construction and the method of operationwill be readily apparent to those skilled in the art to which theinvention appertains and while I have described the principle ofoperation of the invention together with the device which I now considerto be the best embodiment thereof, I desire to have it understood thatthe device shown is merely illustrative and that such- I claim is:

1. In a cotton chopper, a chopping element comprising a screw orpropeller shaped body, and adjustable blades on the body at theperiphery thereof, each blade consisting of a pair of relativelyadjustable plates.

2. In a cotton chopper, a chopping element comprising a hub havingprojecting apertured arms arranged after the fashion of a screw orpropeller, bolts arranged in said apertures, and a pair of overlappingblades provided with elongated slides arranged on said bolts, wherebysaid blades are capable of relative adjustment.

3. In a cotton chopper, the combination with a wheeled frame, of arotatable shaft carried by said frame having a flexible joint, achopping element carried by said shaft, springs connecting said shaft tothe side beams of the frame, and an adjustable lever mounted to turn ontwo horizontal axes, having flexible connections with said shaft at eachend.

4. In a cotton chopper, the combination with a wheeled frame, of arotatable shaft carried by said frame, having a flexible j oint, achopping element mounted on said shaft, springs connecting said shaft tothe side beams of the frame, a hinge pivotally mounted on said frame, alever connected to the free leaf of said hinge, a chain connecting oneend of said lever to said shaft, and a cable connected to the other endof said lever, passing over pulleys secured-to the side beams of theframe, and connected to said shaft.

5. In a cotton chopper, the combination with a wheeled frame, of arotatable shaft carried by said frame having a flexible joint, achopping element carried by said shaft, a lever having auniversalmovement mounted on said frame connected to said shaft at each end, byflexible means, whereby said element can be swung in differentpositions.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in thepresence of the two subscribing witnesses.

TAYLOR J. SMITH.

Witnesses:

E. E. SMooT, C. H. MANDY.

